Seriously speaking, Simon was worried about his mother-in-law. She lay ill with a fever. Jesus took her hand and the fever left her. With the power of Jesus this was not surprising. But what was quite surprising was when she immediately began to serve. She did not even take a moment to rest. Maybe by seeing Jesus serving the people whole heartedly she was also inspired to work tirelessly for them.

During the time of Jesus, sick people were not allowed to go to worship. This was not good for a mother-in-law like that of Peter’s.  Going to the Temple to worship the Lord was the best thing that she missed while in bed and that kept her sad. Being isolated and left alone made her fever get worse everyday.  By healing her she became part of a community again. Who has really the ‘authority’ to preach in the synagogue, the Scribes or Christ? First we have to understand what synagogue is. It was primarily a teaching institution. A man with a new message can come in and preach in it. There was the Ruler of the synagogue who was responsible for the administration of its affairs and the arrangement of its services. When the people met at the synagogue for the service, it was open to the Ruler to call on any competent person to give the address and exposition. There was no professional ministry whatsoever. That is why Jesus was able to do his campaign in the synagogues. He was known to be a man with a message.

It was unusual for Peter’s mother-in-law to live with him. There could only be one reason for it: she was a widow, and has no son to take care of her. Having nothing to do in life, we heard that after Jesus cured her illness she got up and served all of them. Jesus gave this woman the amazing ability to fulfill her role once again.  She received a place in the community of Jesus. Jesus did not only cure her fever.  He gave her a new purpose in life, another reason to live.

Jesus had a long day, after preaching in the synagogue, but he still went and healed Peter’s mother-in-law. The whole city was gathered together at the door by early morning. When it was about sunset, they kept on bringing to him all those who were ill and possessed by demons. They told Jesus that many people were still looking for him. But in the midst of this busyness in schedule, Jesus still found time to go to the desert, and prayed.

Before meeting men, meet God first. Before Jesus healed Peter’s mother in law he was preaching the whole day in synagogue. And at the end of the day the disciples found him in the desert - praying. Humanly speaking, Jesus can not do much work if he will not pray. Prayer is like an energy that is never consumed. We can not compromise prayer. For us priests, no amount of good works can be compared to a moment of prayer. If we stop praying and just keep on helping others soon we will find ourselves burned out and everything will turn out to nothing.

The good master is sensitive to the needs of his servants. After a long day of work, Jesus knew how to go out of his way to help a member of the family of one of his disciples. When you want to follow Jesus, you do not have to worry about your family’s needs. Jesus knows that you are giving yourself in his service, so any problem that would arise along your way is not your problem alone, it is Jesus’ too. You only need to sit down and deep in your heart, tell all your problems and anxieties personally to him in a solemn prayer, and you will find him working for you. Sometimes, we say, “I can not attend church’s activities because my family needs me today”. I tell you, you can not do as much as Jesus can do for your family. Go and serve him first, and let God take care of them.

Sometimes bad things happen to good people. If Peter wanted to follow Jesus, why did something bad happen to his mother-in-law? That we do not know. God works in a very mysterious way. (As they say, God writes a straight line in a crocked way). In First Reading, Job was a very good man. But Job’s life turned tragic. He lost his wife, family and flock. His friends blamed him for his misfortune. Later in the depths of despair he realized that he can not survive on his own, he has to depend totally on God. God acts on his humility and faithfulness. In spite of his tremendous trials, Job ends up with a happy life far better than before.